Day: August 12, 2016

Can a 15-Year-Old Girl Be Legally Married? Infographic taken from The Atlantic, source: Clinton Foundation

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — A recent United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) Malaysia poll on child marriage found 95 per cent of respondents saying it is wrong for a man to marry a 14-year-old girl.

Unicef Malaysia representative Marianne Clark-Hattingh said the results of the survey were heartening as child marriages rob children of their childhood and is a violation of their rights.

“Child brides risk complications during childbirth and are prone to domestic violence and abuse,” she said in a statement today.

“For every year a girl is married before adulthood, her literacy reduces by 5.6 per cent. Their daughters too are more likely to drop out of school and marry young.

“Allowing children to grow into healthy, educated adults is not only right in principle but also in practice, for the child, the future of their family, and the sustainable and inclusive advancement of the nation,” she added.

The same survey also found that 86 per cent of respondents agreed that the minimum legal age for marriage in Malaysia should be 18 years and above, with almost 50 per cent of the female respondents saying it should be 21 years and above. Read more →

A MEMBER of Malaysia’s Youth Parliament has called on the government to introduce chemical castration as the punishment for sexual offences, following the slew of sex abuse cases against children and a heightened awareness of pedophilia.

On Thursday, Mohd Firdaus Ahmad, from the northern state of Kedah, proposed the government take drastic measures to curb such crimes against children, national news agency Bernama reported.

He said prevention of sex crimes against children could be aided with severe punishment.

“In May, Indonesian President Joko Widodo was reported to have authorized chemical castration for convicted child sex offenders. Such punishment is also practiced in a number of countries like South Korea, Poland, Russia and some states in the United States,” he was quoted as saying.

Chemical castration involves the usage of drugs to reduce libido in men, stemming their sex drive and their ability to be sexually aroused. This form of punishment remains a widely debated topic in neighbouring Indonesia, as opponents have raised ethical and human rights concerns. Read more →

AUG 12 — With the adoption of the Paris Agreement, an international treaty for post-2020 climate action, at the Paris climate summit last December, signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are committing themselves to enhancing climate actions to halt further alteration of the climate system and its adverse impacts on human societies.

Malaysia, as one of the 197 Parties that negotiated and adopted the Agreement and subsequently was one of the 175 countries that signed the Agreement on 22 April in New York, will now have to walk the talk.

In the run-up to the Paris Conference, Malaysia, like many other countries had also submitted its climate action plan known as the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in which it declared its intention to cut its emissions ‘by 45% by 2030 relative to the emission intensity of GDP of 2005’. This consists of a reduction of 35% on an unconditional basis and a further 10% conditional upon receipt of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity-building from developed countries. Read more →

KUALA LUMPUR: A roadmap on regional cooperation to tackle the persistant haze problem has been adopted by Asean in its effort to achieve a transboundary haze-free region in less than four years.

The roadmap, aptly called Asean Cooperation towards Trans­boundary Haze Pollution Control with Means of Implementation, serves as a framework towards a haze-free region by 2020.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said all ministers have reaffirmed their commitment to prevent and monitor transboundary haze pollution from land and forest fires through concerted national efforts and regional cooperation.

Yesterday, Asean ministers and officials convened at the 12th meeting of the conference here.

Dr Wan Junaidi said he was optimistic that, with Indonesia’s commitment, the haze situation this year would be less severe.

“Indonesia has given its assurance. A total of 3,000 military and police personnel have been put on watch to monitor the haze situation,” he added.

The senior adviser on energy to Indonesia’s Minister of Environ­ment and Forestry, Arief Yuwono, said President Joko Widodo issued a directive to seriously combat and prevent land and forest fires. Read more →

HAKAM on social media

“Jom Tanya Saya”

In August 2016, HAKAM initiated the first “Jom Tanya Saya” or “Ask Me” series of live broadcast conversations with 4 prominent Malaysians – Ambiga Sreenevasan, Steven Thiru, Marina Mahathir and Azmi Sharom – via Facebook Live. This series is one of HAKAM’s ongoing pursuits to engage the Malaysian public on current issues via online dialogues. Learn more.

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